Monday, September 07, 2009

Today is the 23rd anniversary of the day my life changed permanently. I was a reluctant mother, but the minute I held that beautiful brown-eyed tiny person for the first time it was as if a switched flipped into "On" position and I was smitten!

So happy birthday, Bethany! I can't imagine what our lives would have been like without you.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Last night we had some friends over and we were all sitting around the fire pit drinking beer and talking about politics, history, theology, economics, movies, food, and sometimes all of them at once. Our friend Paul brought up the fact that the government is suggesting that, because of H1N1, people have at least four weeks of food. Pastor Petersen questioned how many people actually have that much food, and, in case of some sort of shortages or breakdown in the supply chain, what we would do.

We have enough food to feed the six of us for about six weeks. Longer if we needed to stretch it. I'm working on building our somewhat depleted food stores back up. I like to have a bit more that that, and I like to have more meat in the freezer.

Pastor asked what I would do if our neighbors were hungry and came over to get food. We have guns and plenty of ammo. Would we fight to protect what we had stored up? What would we do?

I was thinking about that last night when I went to bed, and this morning while I got ready, and was pretty sure I knew my answer. By the time I got to church I knew for sure. If my neighbors were hungry I'd share my food. No question. And by my neighbors I don't just mean my "neighbors." I mean our friends, our church family, whoever. For me, part of the thought behind being prepared in an emergency is that not only could I then take care of myself and my family, I would also not be a drag on the community, and could be in a position to help others.

If someone wasn't happy with sharing and wanted all of my food for himself and tried to take it by force, then I'd probably try to protect it.